blogsnack

so i got back from Sinai, Egypt two days ago and have a pretty good framework saved in my draft blogs, so it's coming. just wanted to post this little snack of random tidbits. ready?

• Bloomie said "goodnight." melllllllllt much.
• i went to the dome of the rock maybe a month ago and never blogged about it, which is kinda weird cause it's a pretty big deal. plus we had to stand in line behind these soupy-eyed zionist christians who kept trying to tell us what a "happy peoples" the jews are and how generous we are to "allow" land to people other than other jews. hrm.
• i was sitting in a place called Mamilla yesterday, which is kinda like an outdoor Yorkdale. situated right beside the entrance into the jewish quarter of the old city, it's kind of an abominable place, filled with suggestive advertising and rich americans. if carrie bradshaw were jewish, this is where you'd find all the carrie bradshaw's of the world. this description of Mamilla is rather irrelevant. the point is that while Eyal was in the bathroom, i was sitting on the ground infront of Renaur Men, taking photos of kids playing on these odd bronze duck sculptures, and a journalist approached me to buy my photos for her newspaper. so i'm gonna be in the paper. probably the gossip page, but i never had lofty goals for my photography career, so i'm happy with it.
• i start up at ulpan again on wednesday, and i'm kinda ambivalent about it. it's good to learn, and it's not as though i'm doing elaborate essays that eat up all my time, but i don't like getting up at 730. that's pretty much my whole gripe. unless i'm waking up to the beautiful Gulf of Aqaba and cold guava juice, then it's 6 for me. (sigh.... Sinai...)
• half an hour ago, i found a slug on my soap bottle in the shower.
• i met Eyal's aunt, Ofra, yesterday. she's a self-proclaimed "cat lady, but not the crazy kind. [She's as] regular as anyone else!" this is slightly untrue. she's actually a pretty phenomenal lady. honest, kind face, ballsy, effervescent and stunning, particularly considering she's almost 70. her daughter is Tamara, the cousin of Eyal's whom i think i mentioned in a previous blog. they appear to be the people of the family with whom i will connect the most intensely. Eyal really connects with them, so i guess my comfort with them makes sense.
• today i got an amazing email from Dawna Coleman/Davis that made me smile so much that it hurt. i boasted to a few people about how i have one of the wisest, most interesting people on the planet as my friend. also really loved my chat with Sally. i miss you Sally.
• i'm tired.

under the weather....

...which is actually pretty crapppy. yes, 3 'p'-level crapppy. for all y'all who think i plopped myself into the middle of desert and instantly get to enjoy 40 degrees, you'll be glad to know (and so will i) that youc an stop hating me for escaping winter. ok ok you're right, it's not snowing (where i am anyway - too bad for those suckers up north!), but it's raining and cold (kinda late fall in canada) so the cold gets into your bones... so now i'm really sick. :( but also, Sarah Blooma (aka Bloomie) has been sick and i've been babysitting, so i'm sure that didn't help build my defenses. or (ready for a tangent?) take away from how cute she is!

In addition to having a cute daughter, my sister Amanda and her husband Chanan (c'mon, really put a good chhhhhala at the beginning of that) have an adorable son, Yisroel (like Israel) Moshe. i started calling him Izzy Mo when he was first born (as opposed to second born? pfft), but Yismo has stuck. And he has long hair in the back and short in the front, which makes him look like Coach Fox (what was that actor's name? Craig something...?), so i now call him Coach. i hope it sticks.

[photos soon. uploading is being annoying right now.]

unfortunately, it here that i must reveal that i have deceived you. no, not about the kids; they're real. but it isn't cold today and i'm not as sick as i claimed above. this is because i wrote half this post last week and never finished because i got soooooo sick - i've sleeping, fevering, and groaning since tuesday, and haven't been able to sit at the computer for more than six seconds until last night really. so NOW there is much more to tell, but i'll save it for a separate post.

but i will leave you with this:

baking powder only comes in individual packets here??? ma ze chara a ze??? (something like, 'what the shit, man??')